Some of Belfast's best-known bars have come in for high praise from one of the world's best-known names in world media

In a piece published in the New York Times magazine by Rosie Schaap singled out a number of the best-known venues out city has to offer.

The writer says Belfast is 'compact and brimming with distinctive bars full of character'.

She singles out the 'elegant' Merchant Hotel, the Spaniard, the John Hewitt and the Crown.

The Spaniard comes in for high praise: "Appealingly cozy and dark, with most of its surfaces taken up by pictures and knickknacks, it felt like the sort of place where an unusually well-mannered pirate might make himself at home."